A- The Current Humanitarian System

            Humanitarianism began because of Henry Dundant, and has four main principles: Humanity, to alleviate human suffering wherever it may be found; Neutrality, to not take sides in a conflict; and not help one side win over the other; Impartiality, aid should be based on needs alone, regardless of race, class, gender and sex; whoever needs it more gets it ; and Independence, from benefactors and institutional donors. Three additional principles of Voluntary Service, Unity and Universality were added later.

            A video we watched in class yesterday, found at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwqRo4Xkix8, detailed International Humanitarian Law, and the Geneva Conventions. I hadn’t previously realized the full extent of the Geneva Conventions and their current shortcomings until this video. While the Geneva Conventions state that in war civilians, wounded, sick, and detainees/captured combatants must be spared and may not be targeted at all costs, detainees and captured combatants must be allowed to maintain contact with their families and bans any violence including torture against them, and that breaking the Geneva Conventions you can be prosecuted by any country, or by the International Criminal Court.  Something was brought to the viewers attention that was potentially a circumvention of the Geneva Conventions, and that was rebels and private hire guns and how they present a problem regarding adherence to the rules of war panned out by the Geneva Conventions.  What I found most interesting about this video is that it points out two very good points: there has been a polarization post-9/11 in war and humanitarian efforts towards anti-terrorism goals and combats which have helped to destabilize entire regions, and that traditionally war has been two sided between countries; now it is a group of people or an organization against a country or another group of people.

            We also covered complex emergencies in class. A complex emergency is a multifaceted humanitarian crisis in a country, region, or society where there is a total or considerable breakdown of authority resulting from internal or external conflict and which requires a multi-sectoral, international response that goes beyond the mandate or capacity of any single agency.  

 

            By this definition the tsunami that affected Indonesia and India, among many other countries, could be considered a complex emergency due to India's near non-existent national government and the horrible after effects of the tsunami.

            Given the definition of a complex emergency, a country is considered stable when most of the people within the country have enough food and medical care, most kids are taken care of, most people live in homes, and most are not afraid of being shot. That being said, Afghanistan has not been a stable country for at least twenty, if not thirty years, so if a natural disaster, man-conceived disaster, or a complex emergency were to occur in that country, how much humanitarian aid would be necessary? And how much humanitarian aid is too much aid? Where is the cut off? And how do we regulate the humanitarian aid we give to ensure that it is used for the intended purposes for which the aid is sent? 

A- Introduction of myself

            Hello Everyone! This is my first official blog post, and it is the start of many more to come. I am Jennifer Reimann, I am currently a third year student at Penn State University majoring in Security and Risk Analysis with a concentration in Intelligence Analysis and Modeling and minoring in Psychology with an emphasis on Psychology of Fear and Stress, and Behavior Modification.  This blog was created for my SRA 397A: Crisis Informatics class, taught by Dr. Andrea Tapia. I chose to take this class to increase my knowledge in how technology plays a role in crisis response and how we, as individuals and as a nation, can improve our technologies and crisis responses to various natural and man-made crises. I am taking this class with him and one of his roommates, both of whom are excellent bullshitters, and are absolutely ridiculous. In combination with them and some of the other people in the class, this should make for an interesting class this semester.

            When I’m not on the Penn State campus, I’m usually at my place, or my boyfriend’s.  I love two of my three roommates and I like the other one, all girls that generally function well together minus when we have the same shark week. Beware male population. Luckily, my boyfriend is also my best friend and my boyfriend so we get along well, and I’ve pretty much become another roommate to the guys in his apartment. Which isn’t that bad aside from the constant belching contests, awkward comments, and other manly what-have-yous because I get along better with the male species than the female.

            While my parents are enjoying the constant weather in Florida, I am in cold, snowy, rainy Pennsylvania. As you can probably tell, I am not a fan of cold weather. I was born in Delaware, then moved to New Jersey and graduated from South River High School in Maryland one semester early. I then went to Penn State: Altoona starting Spring of 2009 for my first collegiate semester. I have one brother who is a Nursing major at Misericordia College in Pennsylvania, and “my” dog, a black miniature poodle, is at home with my parents in sunny Florida. Rocky is more like my mom’s shadow than anyone else’s dog, wherever she goes, he goes with the exception of chasing lizards and the world’s ugliest ducks ever created.

            So, what am I planning on doing with my degree from Penn State? Putting it in a frame and hanging it. Really, that’s what I’m going to DO with my degree. What am I planning on doing with the KNOWLEDGE I have gained obtaining my degree? I have no idea. I’ve worked retail, at PacSun and Target for over 3 years, and I am good at it, so I’m hoping to combine that with what I’ve learned in SRA: IAM to get into asset protection. Either that, or making my way into the tactical and operational intelligence communities, not so much the strategic intelligence communities. I am also hoping to incorporate the language I’ve been completing for my major, Russian,  into the job that I eventually find myself in.